Fair price for Cow calf pairs?

[Kell-inKY]

I visited my uncle who has raised cattle for his whole life and is now selling out. I haven't been to his place in 30 years or more. Anyway, his cows blow mine away. I would like to offer to buy a couple of pairs, they are 6-7 y.o. with anywhere from 1 month old calves to 3 month olds.

What is a fair price in todays market? I think he wants to sell all to a buyer at one time but I think I can twist his arm.

There are several Red Angus pairs
several Black Angus pairs
a couple of oddballs like Hereford crosses and something else?

Thanks, and will the Red Angus take a hit at the sale barn if I went that direction, they are really nice looking. Will my Black Angus bull produce a black calf?

 

[ddd75]

just sold some like that at 2000 / pair but they were all black

 

[Toad]

I've seen really nice pairs close to $2000

 

[TexasBred]

$1300-1800 a pair down here for cattle that age with small calves.

 

[bigbull338]

id offer him $1600a pair.then hear his counter price.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Last week at the breeders sale here $1600-$2400. $2k average. I like bb338's advice. Maybe even start at $1500.

 

[skyhightree1]

id offer him $1600a pair.then hear his counter price.

Might not be a counter offer may say ok... Toad and I have around same pricing as he stated.

 

[tom4018]

Saw them from $1300-1800 at some sales. Been hard to really tell as most were aged.

 

[ddd75]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

 

[tom4018]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

I agree but I was stating that as a baseline. We have sold a lot of heifers and some bulls off the farm. Even if I try to sell at current market price, we have scales, I still get people that will still try to bargain. Seems like the down market has brought even more of that out. Bottom line is that you have to base what you can pay for them on what you get out of the calves.

 

[TexasBred]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

But thousands of people buy from teh sale barn with great success. Anytime you're calving out any cow there is potential for disaster.

 

[skyhightree1]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

But thousands of people buy from teh sale barn with great success. Anytime you're calving out any cow there is potential for disaster.

:lol2: I can make as much or more at the barn than those precious babied front pasture cattle without a doubt.. The cattle are not always bad at the barn I don't understand why folks don't see that. I am glad people are scared of the barn I just wish more were scared of the big bad barn so I could buy stuff cheaper.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I would say about 2000$ on the very best pairs and maybe 1600$ on the plainer cows If they are good.

 

[Ozark cowman]

If what your calling the odd ball pairs are good quality calf raisers I would try to buy them for maybe 1400 to $1600 , they might be a better deal than the Reds and blacks at $2000. And if he's wanting to sell them in a group he might be more willing to let go of any that don't match the others that he's going to be selling to someone else.

 

[ddd75]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

But thousands of people buy from teh sale barn with great success. Anytime you're calving out any cow there is potential for disaster.

:lol2: I can make as much or more at the barn than those precious babied front pasture cattle without a doubt.. The cattle are not always bad at the barn I don't understand why folks don't see that. I am glad people are scared of the barn I just wish more were scared of the big bad barn so I could buy stuff cheaper.

sky.. I don't buy 3-5 cows a year at the barn like you. I've been buying 50 - 100 a year at the barns for several years. Trust me, I am not scared of the barns as I usually go to 3 sales a week.

I've had great success with sale barn cattle as well. but if you pencil it out, each and every time buying a known good cow is always better then buying an unknown. (as long as you're not buying these crazy 3-6k special sale fancy cows) I'm not talking about the fancy cows. just a good herd you might be able to find where someone is getting out. You know maybe paying 200 more per head?? thats all i'm saying.. it's hard to find, but if you can, you're far better off.

 

[ddd75]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

But thousands of people buy from teh sale barn with great success. Anytime you're calving out any cow there is potential for disaster.

well, buy all yours at the barn then. good luck. :santa:

 

[ddd75]

so you guys are saying that buying unknown cattle, from probably another state, who knows where they've been.. don't know who or what bred them.. if they can even give a live calf.. or produce milk.. but is 300 cheaper then from buying a cow from say your neighbor with a good herd asking 300 / hd more ?

seriously?

 

[M.Magis]

so you guys are saying that buying unknown cattle, from probably another state, who knows where they've been.. don't know who or what bred them.. if they can even give a live calf.. or produce milk.. but is 300 cheaper then from buying a cow from say your neighbor with a good herd asking 300 / hd more ?

seriously?

You act as if buying private treaty is a sure thing. If you've ever gone to a sale barn, you'd know that the top prices are paid for the best quality pairs. Nothing is guaranteed, but it's easy to differentiate the good ones from the poor ones. The question was asked about market/fair value. Market value is determined by what people are willing to spend, and the only way to figure that out with cow/calf pairs is to look at the sale barn market reports. If you think it's worth more buying off the farm, great. But that isn't market value.
You can look at the flip side of it too, buying off the farm saves the seller barn fees and trucking.

 

[ddd75]

so you guys are saying that buying unknown cattle, from probably another state, who knows where they've been.. don't know who or what bred them.. if they can even give a live calf.. or produce milk.. but is 300 cheaper then from buying a cow from say your neighbor with a good herd asking 300 / hd more ?

seriously?

You act as if buying private treaty is a sure thing. If you've ever gone to a sale barn, you'd know that the top prices are paid for the best quality pairs. Nothing is guaranteed, but it's easy to differentiate the good ones from the poor ones. The question was asked about market/fair value. Market value is determined by what people are willing to spend, and the only way to figure that out with cow/calf pairs is to look at the sale barn market reports. If you think it's worth more buying off the farm, great. But that isn't market value.
You can look at the flip side of it too, buying off the farm saves the seller barn fees and trucking.

I never said the best cows at the barn go for cheap, I was arguing the values people are putting on a good solid cow .. quoting low sale barn prices as if that matters.

Every farmer / person that I know put a higher value on proven off the farm cattle, giving them a higher 'market value'. So your comment about how the stockyard price indicates 'market value' is completely wrong. You can obviously look at any private sale, herd sellout sale, etc. to reflect that.

 

[BRYANT]

i would consider a off the farm, good milking, solid, calving cow.. worth far more then any 'stockyard price' cow.

The boys who bought my cows tried the samet hing on me.. "i can get it for this price at the stockyard"
I told them to go ahead and go for it.. after they lose some calves, some cows, and the little dink calves they get that have a 50/50 chance of dying.. that they'll get pennies on the dollar for.. boy that little extra per cow goes a LONG way in being profitable.

somebody sure does not know how to buy cattle if they loose 1/2 of the calves. I have bought several out of sale barns and did VERY WELL never lost or even had close to 1/2 the calves to be bad. This is and old subject that has been talked about many times some likes sale barn cattle and some don't but every cow that goes through a sale is not a cull and just because you have some cows does not mean you know enough about cows and the tricks of a sale barn to go buy cattle there. You can go to OKC Stockyards and see them bring in pot loads of cows that come off of one ranch all with the same brand that are still good cows for a couple more calves that you can make money on. I was there a few days and they had several head of heavy bred cows that were 8yr old to SS mouth ,some marked old, that came from Choctaw Nation Tribe that were nice Brangus type cattle that would have a nice calf in a few days. if I remember right you could have picked them up for around 1200.00 give or take a few $